1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio apparatus, especially to a mobile or portable telephone, with a battery compartment and a card receptacle.
2. Prior Art
A radio device constructed as a mobile telephone including a battery compartment and a telephone card receptacle for a SIM telephone network card (subscriber identification module) is already known from the Bosch Telecom Catalog xe2x80x9cBosch Mobile Telephone 1996/97, Fresh Ideas for Maintaining Connectionsxe2x80x9d. The SIM telephone network card allows telephoning in the respective mobile radio network. It contains the personal call number and a protective access authorization code, for example in the form of a four-digit number, whose input to the mobile telephone proves that the user of the telephone network card is authorized to make telephone calls. The SIM telephone network card is also a memory, e.g. for telephone directory entry.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved radio device, especially a mobile or portable telephone, of the above-described type, having a battery compartment and a telephone card receptacle.
According to the invention the compact radio device, especially a mobile or portable telephone, includes a circuit board, a battery compartment for holding a battery that e.g. powers the radio device and a card receptacle for a telephone card, such as a telephone network card, an access authorization card or the like. The battery compartment and the card receptacle are arranged on the same side of the circuit board and along the circuit board next to each other.
The radio device according to the invention with the above-described features has the advantage that the battery compartment and the card receptacle are on the same side of the circuit board and are arranged next to each other on the circuit board. In this way it is possible to reduce the thickness of the radio device. Because of that the user-friendliness of the radio device is increased, since it is more easily gripped by a hand of the user and takes up less space, for example in a jacket pocket.
Especially a reduced thickness or height of the radio device according to the invention results in comparison to an arrangement of the card receptacle between the battery compartment and the circuit board.
An additional advantage of the above-described arrangement is that the arrangement of the battery compartment and the card receptacle next to each other along the circuit board is that the battery compartment and the card receptacle are simultaneously accessible from outside in contrast to the situation with the card receptacle between the battery compartment and the circuit board and the card receptacle thus is accessible from the outside only with the battery removed from the battery compartment. The insertion or removal of a telephone network card or an access authorization card into or out of the card receptacle is thus considerably simplified for the user.
The features of an advantageous embodiment of the radio device according to the invention are set forth in the appended dependent claims.
The card receptacle is advantageously only accessible from the battery compartment with the battery removed. By removing the battery it is guaranteed that no voltage is present in the radio device when the card is inserted in it. Because of that damage to the radio device and/or the card is prevented. Furthermore a telephone network card inserted in the card receptacle or access authorization card is better protected from unintended loss or dropping out from the radio device, since it is only insertable or removable with the battery removed from the battery compartment. At the same time with this arrangement a telephone network card or access authorization card inserted in the card receptacle is better protected from outside influences, such as weather influences, impacts or the like. Furthermore by the arrangement of the battery compartment and the card receptacle along the circuit board on one side a hinge visible from the outside can be dispensed with, whereby the outer appearance of the radio device is not made to look poorer or interrupted.